If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? It is a common question people ask when some intelligent person does not earn enough money or can not find a good job. There are many reasons, and the following article describes my personal top three.

Motivation

The first and the most obvious reason is lack of motivation to get a better salary or a better job. These can be family reasons, desire to maintain a healthy work-life balance, lack of interest in the financial area, inability to concentrate on a task for a long time, and so on.

Some of these reasons are objective and can not be changed; others may be overcome and used to correct motivation in the future. One way or another, this is a choice of the person in question and his lifestyle.

For some people, money is no motivation at all. They are looking for a challenge, an exciting job, lots of interesting relations, etc. All these factors may be primary in the person's motivation, but financial success is an independent factor and can be achieved together with the primary factors.

Environment

The following reason why a person may not be financially successful is the wrong or inappropriate environment.

The first group of factors is external factors. These are the unstable political situation in the country, questionable or bad financial situation, the overall quality of life, etc. A person has to satisfy basic needs to be able to work on something more significant.

The second group is internal factors. The first situation is when a person can not grow because of some internal reasons, for example, because of a social environment. Another case is when there are no places to utilize the knowledge and skills; it is typical for students who did not have a clear goal during their education. Finally, there may be no option to self-actualization (the top of Maslow’s pyramid), so a person can not express and open himself to the world.

Just a couple of words on the solution. It is usually typical what has to be done to solve the problem (relocation, second education, new career), but it may take a lot of time and effort.

Luck

Finally, there is a question of sheer luck. A person has to be at the right place at the right time, talk to the right people and say the right words. Some of these things can be predicted and prepared to, others not. That is why two identical companies may have very different development strategies; one may succeed while the others fail.

Luck is often a consequence of reasonable risk. It is part of the decision-making process. A person has to take the risk to get a reward, but at the same time be prepared for negative consequences.

As you can see, being smart and rich may not be that easy as you think. However, if you overcome mentioned issues, you will be in a significantly better position to continue living and achieve your goals in life!